On February 21, 1613, after the expulsion of the Polish interventionists from Moscow, Mikhail was elected by the Zemsky Sobor to the royal throne. A summary of the main deeds of the sovereign: the war with Poland, Azov, the raids of the Nogai Horde. Attempts to create the first regular Russian army.
MIKHAIL FEDOROVICH ROMANOV(12.12.1596-13.07.1645), the first Russian tsar from the Romanov dynasty. Reigned in 1613 - 45. The son of boyar Fyodor Nikitich Romanov (later - Moscow Patriarch Filaret) and boyar Xenia Ivanovna Romanova (nee Shestova). Was the cousin of the Russian Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich. On February 21, 1613, after the expulsion of the Polish interventionists from Moscow, Mikhail was elected by the Zemsky Sobor to the royal throne. Until 1633, Russia was actually ruled by Mikhail's father, Patriarch Filaret.During the reign of Michael, a gradual restoration of the national economy took place, which suffered great damage in the first decade of the 17th century. In 1617, a peace treaty was signed with Sweden in Stolbovo, according to which the Swedes returned to Russia the Novgorod region they had seized. However, Sweden was left with Russian cities: Ivangorod, Yam, Koporye, Korela with the adjacent areas. The Poles undertook two campaigns against Moscow, and in 1617 the Polish prince Vladislav with his army reached the walls of the White City. But soon the invaders were driven out of the outskirts of the capital. In 1618, the Deulinsky truce was concluded between Poland and Russia for 14.5 years, according to which the Polish king withdrew his troops from the territory of Russia, but the Rzeczpospolita remained the Smolensk, Chernigov and Seversky lands. The Poles did not recognize Mikhail's rights to the Russian throne. The son of Sigismund III Vladislav called himself the Russian tsar. The Nogai Horde came out of the subordination of Russia. The Nogays began to devastate the border lands. In 1616 it was possible to make peace with them. Despite the fact that the government of Mikhail sent expensive gifts to Bakhchisarai every year, the Crimean Tatars made campaigns deep into Russian territory. Turkey pushed them to this. In fact, Russia in the 1610s - 20s was in political isolation. To get out of it, an attempt was made to marry the young king to a Danish princess. But negotiations on marriage were not crowned with success. Then they tried to marry Mikhail to the Swedish princess. The Russians demanded that the Swedish princess convert to Orthodoxy and were refused.
The main task that Mikhail's government tried to solve was the liberation of the Smolensk land. In 1632 the Russian army laid siege to Smolensk, took Dorogobuzh, Serpeysk, and other cities. Then Poland agreed with the Crimean Khan on joint actions against Russia. Crimean Tatars broke into the depths of Russian territory, reached Serpukhov, plundering settlements located on the banks of the Oka. Many noblemen and boyar children who had estates in the southern regions left Smolensk to defend their lands from the Tatars. The Polish king Vladislav IV approached Smolensk and surrounded the Russian army. On February 19, 1634, the Russians surrendered, giving the Poles all the guns they had and laying down their banners at the royal feet. Vladislav IV moved further east, but was stopped at the White fortress. In March 1634, the Polyanovsky Peace Treaty was signed between Russia and Poland. According to it, Poland returned the city of Serpeysk to Russia, for which it had to pay 20 thousand rubles. Vladislav IV renounced his claims to the Russian throne and recognized Mikhail as the Russian tsar.
After all these events, the restoration of the old and the construction of a new notch line in the south of the country began. Moscow began to actively use the Don Cossacks to fight Turkey and the Crimean Khanate. During the reign of Michael, good relations were established with Persia, which provided Russia with financial assistance during the Russian-Polish war of 1632–34. The territory of Russia increased due to the annexation of a number of Siberian regions.
The situation inside the country was difficult. In 1616, popular movements took place, in which peasants, serfs and non-Russian peoples of the Volga region took part. In 1627, a royal decree was issued, allowing the nobles to transfer their estates by inheritance, on condition of service to the king. Thus, the noble estates were equated with the boyar estates. After Mikhail came to power, a 5-year search for fugitive serfs was established. This did not suit the nobility, who demanded an extension of the search term. The government went to meet the nobles: in 1637 it set the term for capturing the fugitives to 9 years, and in 1641 increased it by another year, and those who were taken out by other owners were allowed to search for 15 years.
During the reign of Mikhail, an attempt was made to create regular military units. In the 1930s, several “regiments of the new system” appeared, the rank and file of which were “eager free people” and homeless boyar children; the officers in these regiments were foreign military specialists. At the end of the reign of Michael, cavalry dragoon regiments arose to guard the outer borders.
For a long time, the Rurik dynasty ruled in Russia. The dynasty got its name from the name of the founder of the Novgorod principality - Rurik. Her reign began in 862, when Rurik was called to reign. But the decline of the reign of the great dynasty fell on 1598 and is associated with the death of its last representative Fyodor Ivanovich, the son of Ivan the Fourth the Terrible. Fate turned so that Fyodor had no heirs left, and a representative of the great royal family of the Romanovs ascended the throne.
Born in 1598 into the family of the monk Filaret, in the world of Fyodor Nikitich, Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov became the first king of the Romanov dynasty. The father's aunt was Anastasia Zakharyina-Yurieva, the wife of Ivan the Terrible. It turns out that Mikhail Fedorovich was the only relative who could really ascend to the Russian throne.
Michael accepted the reign at the age of sixteen, after the decision of the Zemsky Sobor on February 21, 1613. The first thing the king did was to cleanse the country of enemies. By 1616, the last of the enemies died Russian Empire Lithuanian rider Lisovsky.
Russia's foreign policy has not gone so well. Mikhail Fedorovich had to conclude the Stolbovsky peace with the Swedish king Gustav Adolf, who seized Novgorod. The contract was signed in 1617. However, this decision distanced Moscow from the outlet to the Baltic Sea. Under the agreement, the Swedes were given the lands of Yama, Oreshk, Ivangorod and Koporye. Another treaty was signed with Poland in 1618. The signing of the Deulinsky truce was caused by the fact that the Polish prince Vladislav claimed the Russian throne. Under the agreement, Poland received the Seversky lands and Smolensk. But the truce nevertheless rendered a service to Mikhail Fedorovich. Indeed, as a result of its signing, his father Fyodor Nikitich returned to the country, detained by the Poles in 1610 after unsuccessful negotiations. From that moment on, a period of dual power began in the country, since Filaret became the Moscow patriarch - “the great sovereign”. The dual power ended in 1633 with the death of Fyodor Nikitich Romanov.
In 1632, the second Polish war began, Vladislav did not renounce the Moscow throne, he was supported by the Polish government, which did not recognize Mikhail Fedorovich on the throne. The Turkish troops, which were approaching the Polish border, helped Russia to end the war with Poland. In 1634, the Peace of Polyanovsk was concluded. Under the terms of the treaty, Vladislav renounced the Russian throne, but Russia had to pay twenty thousand rubles.
Mikhail Fedorovich tried in every possible way to avoid wars, he paid more attention to the internal improvement of the state. He tried to raise the state economically. The number of Zemsky Councils was about twelve. They helped the king in his reign. During the reign of the king, the military forces of the state are being analyzed, caused by the precarious external position of the country. Under Mikhail Fedorovich, a new cadastre was started. A government school was founded in Moscow, and foreign scientists were summoned by order of the tsar.
The personal life of the tsar at first develops somewhat unfavorably. Dolgorukov's first wife Marya left the land in 1623, this year was also the year of the wedding with the tsar. A year later, the tsar married a second time, but this time to the daughter of a little nobleman Streshneva Evdokia. He had three daughters and a son, Alexei Mikhailovich. In the year of his father's death, he was sixteen years old, it was in 1645.
Thanks to the marriage of Ivan IV the Terrible with the representative of the Romanov family, Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina, the Zakharyin-Romanov family became close to the royal court in the 16th century, and after the suppression of the Moscow branch of the Rurikids began to claim the throne.
In 1613, the great-nephew of Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina, Mikhail Fedorovich, was elected to the royal throne. And the offspring of Tsar Michael, which was traditionally called House of the Romanovs, ruled by Russia until 1917.
For a long period of time, members of the royal and then the imperial family did not bear any surnames at all (for example, "Tsarevich Ivan Alekseevich", "Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich"). Despite this, the names "Romanovs" and "House of Romanovs" were used to informally designate the Russian Imperial House, the coat of arms of the Romanovs boyars was included in official legislation, and in 1913 the 300th anniversary of the reign of the Romanovs' dynasty was widely celebrated.
After 1917, the surname of the Romanovs officially began to be worn by almost all members of the former reigning house, and now it is worn by many of their descendants.
Tsars and emperors of the Romanov dynasty
Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov - Tsar and Grand Duke of All Russia
Lived 1596-1645
Reign 1613-1645
Father - boyar Fyodor Nikitich Romanov, who later became Patriarch Filaret.
Mother - Ksenia Ivanovna Shestovaya,
in monasticism Martha.
Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov was born in Moscow on July 12, 1596. He spent his childhood in the village of Domnino, the Kostroma patrimony of the Romanovs.
Under Tsar Boris Godunov, all the Romanovs were persecuted due to suspicion of a conspiracy. Boyarin Fyodor Nikitich Romanov and his wife were forcibly tonsured into monasticism and imprisoned in monasteries. Fyodor Romanov received a name at the tonsure Filaret and his wife became a nun Martha.
But even after his tonsure, Filaret led an active political life: he opposed Tsar Shuisky and supported False Dmitry I (thinking that he was the real Tsarevich Dmitry).
False Dmitry I, after his accession, returned from exile the surviving members of the Romanov family. Fyodor Nikitich (as a monk Filaret) with his wife Ksenia Ivanovna (as a monk Martha) and their son Michael were returned.
Martha Ivanovna and her son Mikhail first settled in the Kostroma estate of the Romanovs, the village of Domnina, and then took refuge from the persecution of Polish-Lithuanian detachments in the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma.
Ipatiev Monastery. Vintage image Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov was only 16 years old when on February 21, 1613 the Zemsky Sobor, which included representatives of almost all strata of the population of Russia, elected him tsar.
On March 13, 1613, a crowd of boyars and city residents approached the walls of the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma. Mikhail Romanov and his mother received the ambassadors from Moscow with respect.
But when the ambassadors presented nun Martha and her son with a letter from the Zemsky Sobor with an invitation to the kingdom, Mikhail was horrified and refused such a high honor.
“The state has been ruined by the Poles,” he explained his refusal. - The royal treasury has been plundered. Service people are poor, how to give them food? And how, in such a distressing situation, can I, as a sovereign, resist my enemies?
“And I cannot bless Mishenka for the kingdom,” nun Martha echoed her son with tears in her eyes. - After all, his father, Metropolitan Filaret, was captured by the Poles. And how the Polish king finds out that the son of his captive is in the kingdom, so he orders to do evil over his father, or even completely deprive him of his life!
The ambassadors began to explain that Michael was chosen at will by the whole earth, which means, by the will of God. And if Michael refuses, then God himself will exact from him for the final ruin of the state.
The persuasion of mother and son lasted for six hours. Shedding bitter tears, nun Martha finally agreed to this fate. And since this is the will of God, then she will bless her son. After the blessing of his mother, Mikhail no longer resisted and accepted the tsar's staff brought from Moscow from the ambassadors as a sign of power in Moscow Russia.
Patriarch Filaret
In the fall of 1617, the Polish army approached Moscow, and negotiations began on November 23. The armistice was signed by the Russians and the Poles for 14.5 years. Poland received the Smolensk region and part of the Seversk land, and Russia needed a respite from the Polish aggression.
And only a little over a year after the armistice was concluded, the Poles released Metropolitan Filaret, the father of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, from captivity. The meeting between father and son took place on the Presnya River on June 1, 1619. They bowed to each other at the feet, both burst into tears, hugged and were silent for a long time, numb with joy.
In 1619, immediately after his return from captivity, Metropolitan Filaret became the patriarch of All Russia.
From that time until the end of his life, Patriarch Filaret was the de facto ruler of the country. His son - Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich - did not make a single decision without the consent of his father.
The patriarch presided over the church court, participated in the solution of zemstvo issues, leaving only criminal cases for consideration by state institutions.
Patriarch Filaret “was of average height and fullness, he understood the divine scripture in part; by disposition he was disgraceful and suspicious, but so dominant that the tsar himself was afraid of him. "
Patriarch Filaret (F. N. Romanov) Tsar Michael and Patriarch Filaret together considered cases and made decisions on them, together they received foreign ambassadors, issued double certificates and presented double gifts. In Russia there was a dual power, the rule of two sovereigns with the participation of the Boyar Duma and the Zemsky Sobor.
In the first 10 years of Mikhail's reign, the role of the Zemsky Sobor in resolving state issues increased. But by 1622 the Zemsky Sobor was convened rarely and irregularly.
After the prisoners peace treaties with Sweden and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a time of rest has come for Russia. Fugitive peasants returned to their farms to cultivate lands abandoned during the Troubles.
During the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich, there were 254 cities in Russia. Merchants were given special privileges, including permission to travel to other countries, provided they also trade in government goods, monitor the work of customs and taverns to replenish the income of the state treasury.
In the 20-30s of the 17th century, the so-called first manufactories appeared in Russia. These were large factories for those times, where there was a division of labor according to specialties, steam mechanisms were used.
By decree of Mikhail Fedorovich, it was possible to gather printers and literate elders in order to restore the printing business, which in Time of Troubles practically stopped. The printing yard during the Time of Troubles was burned down along with all the printing machines.
By the end of the reign of Tsar Mikhail, the Printing House already had more than 10 machines and other equipment, and there were over 10 thousand printed books in the printing house.
During the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich, dozens of talented inventions and technical innovations appeared, such as a cannon with a screw thread, a striking clock on the Spasskaya Tower, water engines for manufactories, paints, drying oil, ink and much more.
In large cities, the construction of temples and towers was actively carried out, which differed from the old buildings in elegant decoration. The Kremlin walls were repaired, the Patriarch's Courtyard was expanded on the territory of the Kremlin.
Russia continued to develop Siberia, new cities were founded there: Yeniseisk (1618), Krasnoyarsk (1628), Yakutsk (1632), the Bratsk prison was built (1631),
Towers of the Yakutsk prison In 1633, the father of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, his assistant and teacher, Patriarch Filaret, died. After the death of the “second sovereign,” the boyars again increased their influence on Mikhail Fedorovich. But the king did not resist, he was now often not healthy. The serious illness that struck the king was most likely dropsy. Tsarist doctors wrote that Tsar Michael's illness comes from "a lot of sitting, cold drinking and melancholy."
Mikhail Fedorovich died on July 13, 1645 and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
Alexey Mikhailovich - The Quietest, Tsar and Great Sovereign of All Russia
Lived 1629-1676
Reign 1645-1676
Father - Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, tsar and great sovereign of all Russia.
Mother - Princess Evdokia Lukyanovna Streshneva.
Future king Alexey Mikhailovich Romanov, the eldest son of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, was born on March 19, 1629. He was baptized at the Trinity-Sergius Monastery and named Alexei. Already at the age of 6, he could read well. By order of his grandfather, Patriarch Filaret, a primer was created especially for his grandson. In addition to the primer, the prince read the Psalter, the Acts of the Apostles and other books from the Patriarch's library. The boyar was the tutor of the tsarevich Boris Ivanovich Morozov.
By the age of 11-12, Alexei had his own small library of books that belonged to him personally. This library mentions the Lexicon and Grammar published in Lithuania and the serious Cosmography.
Little Alexei with early childhood taught to run the state. He often attended receptions of foreign ambassadors and was a participant in court ceremonies.
At the age of 14, the Tsarevich was solemnly “announced” to the people, and at the age of 16, when his father, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, died, Alexei Mikhailovich ascended the throne. A month later, his mother also died.
By the unanimous decision of all the boyars, on July 13, 1645, the entire court nobility kissed the cross to the new sovereign. The first person surrounded by the tsar, according to the last will of tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, was the boyar B. I. Morozov.
The new Russian tsar, judging by his own letters and reviews of foreigners, had a remarkably gentle, good-natured character and was "much quiet." The whole atmosphere among which Tsar Alexei lived, his upbringing and reading of church books developed in him a great religiosity.
Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Quiet On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, during all church posts, the young tsar did not drink or eat anything. Alexei Mikhailovich was a very zealous performer of all church rituals and had an extraordinary Christian humility and meekness. Any pride was repugnant and alien to him. "And to me a sinner," he wrote, "is a local honor, like dust."
But his good nature and humility were sometimes replaced by short outbursts of anger. Once the tsar, who was being bled by the German "dohtur", ordered the boyars to try the same remedy, but the boyar Streshnev did not agree. Then Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich "humbled" the old man with his own hand, then did not know what gifts to appease him with.
Alexei Mikhailovich knew how to respond to someone else's grief and joy, and by his meek character he was just a "golden man", moreover, intelligent and very educated for his time. He always read a lot and wrote many letters.
Alexei Mikhailovich himself read petitions and other documents, wrote or edited many important decrees and was the first of the Russian tsars to sign them with his own hand. The autocrat inherited a powerful state recognized abroad to his sons. One of them - Peter the Great - managed to continue his father's work, completing the formation of an absolute monarchy and the creation of a huge Russian empire.
Alexei Mikhailovich married in January 1648 the daughter of a poor nobleman Ilya Miloslavsky - Maria Ilinichna Miloslavskaya, who bore him 13 children. Until the death of his wife, the king was an exemplary family man.
"Salt Riot"
B.I. Morozov, who began to rule the country on behalf of Alexei Mikhailovich, came up with a new taxation system, which came into effect by the tsar's decree in February 1646. An increased duty was introduced on salt in order to sharply replenish the treasury. However, this innovation did not justify itself, as they began to buy less salt, and revenues to the treasury decreased.
The boyars abolished the salt tax, but instead they came up with another way to replenish the treasury. The boyars decided to collect taxes, previously canceled, just three years earlier. There and then began a massive ruin of the peasants and even wealthy people. Due to the sudden impoverishment of the population, spontaneous popular unrest began in the country.
A crowd of people tried to hand over a petition to the king when he returned from a pilgrimage on June 1, 1648. But the king was afraid of the people and did not accept the complaint. The petitioners were arrested. The next day, during the procession of the cross, people again went to the tsar, then the crowd rushed into the territory of the Moscow Kremlin.
The archers refused to fight for the boyars and did not oppose ordinary people, moreover, they were ready to join the disaffected. The people refused to negotiate with the boyars. Then a frightened Alexei Mikhailovich came out to the people, holding the icon in his hands.
Sagittarius The rebels all over Moscow smashed the chambers of the hated boyars - Morozov, Pleshcheev, Trakhaniotov - and demanded their extradition from the tsar. A critical situation arose, Alexei Mikhailovich had to make concessions. Was issued to a crowd of Pleshcheev, then Trakhaniots. The life of the educator of Tsar Boris Morozov was under the threat of popular reprisals. But Alexey Mikhailovich decided to save his teacher at any cost. He tearfully begged the crowd to spare the boyar, promising people to remove Morozov from business and expel him from the capital. Alexei Mikhailovich kept his promise and sent Morozov to the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery.
After these events named "Salt riot", Aleksey Mikhailovich has changed a lot, and his role in governing the state has become decisive.
At the request of the nobles and merchants, the Zemsky Sobor was convened on June 16, 1648, at which a decision was made to prepare a new set of laws for the Russian state.
The result of the enormous and lengthy work of the Zemsky Sobor was Code of 25 chapters, which was printed in an edition of 1200 copies. The code was sent to all local governors in all cities and large villages of the country. In the Code, legislation on land tenure, on legal proceedings was developed, the statute of limitations for the search for fugitive peasants was canceled (which finally confirmed serfdom). This set of laws became a guiding document for the Russian state for almost 200 years.
Due to the abundance of foreign merchants in Russia, Aleksey Mikhailovich signed a decree on June 1, 1649, to expel English merchants from the country.
The objects of foreign policy of the tsarist government of Alexei Mikhailovich were Georgia, Central Asia, Kalmykia, India and China - the countries with which the Russians tried to establish trade and diplomatic relations.
The Kalmyks asked Moscow to allocate territories for them to settle. In 1655 they swore allegiance to the Russian Tsar, and in 1659 the oath was confirmed. Since then, the Kalmyks have always participated in hostilities on the side of Russia, especially their help was tangible in the struggle against the Crimean Khan.
Reunification of Ukraine with Russia
In 1653, the Zemsky Sobor considered the question of reuniting the Left-Bank Ukraine with Russia (at the request of the Ukrainians who fought for independence at that time and hoped to receive the protection and support of Russia). But such support could provoke another war with Poland, which, in fact, happened.
On October 1, 1653, the Zemsky Sobor decided to reunite the Left-Bank Ukraine with Russia. January 8, 1654 Ukrainian hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky solemnly proclaimed reunification of Ukraine with Russia at the Pereyaslavl Rada, and already in May 1654 Russia entered the war with Poland.
Russia fought with Poland from 1654 to 1667. During this time, Rostislavl, Drogobuzh, Polotsk, Mstislav, Orsha, Gomel, Smolensk, Vitebsk, Minsk, Grodno, Vilno, Kovno were returned to Russia.
From 1656 to 1658, Russia fought with Sweden. During the war, several truces were concluded, but in the end Russia was never able to regain access to the Baltic Sea.
The treasury of the Russian state was melting, and the government, after several years of constant hostilities with the Polish troops, decided to go to peace negotiations, which ended with the signing in 1667 Andrusov armistice for a period of 13 years and 6 months.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky Under the terms of this truce, Russia refused all conquests on the territory of Lithuania, but retained Severshchina, Smolensk and the Left-Bank part of Ukraine, and also Kiev remained for Moscow for two years. The almost century-long confrontation between Russia and Poland came to an end, and later (in 1685) an eternal peace was concluded, according to which Kiev remained in Russia.
The end of hostilities was solemnly celebrated in Moscow. For the successful negotiation of negotiations with the Poles, the nobleman Ordin-Nashchokin was elevated to the rank of boyar by the sovereign, and he appointed him keeper of the tsarist seal and head of the Little Russian and Polish orders.
"Copper Riot"
In order to provide a constant income to the royal treasury, a monetary reform was carried out in 1654. Copper coins were introduced, which were supposed to be treated on a par with silver ones, and at the same time a ban on the trade in copper appeared, since from that time it all went to the treasury. But taxes continued to be collected only in silver coins, and copper money began to depreciate.
Immediately, many counterfeiters appeared, minting copper money. The gap in the value of the silver and copper coins became wider every year. From 1656 to 1663, the cost of one silver ruble increased to 15 copper rubles. All the merchants pleaded for the abolition of the copper money.
The Russian merchants turned to the tsar with a statement of dissatisfaction with their position. And soon there was a so-called "Copper Riot"- a powerful popular uprising on July 25, 1662. The reason for the unrest was the sheets pasted in Moscow with accusations of Miloslavsky, Rtishchev and Shorin of treason. Then a crowd of thousands moved to Kolomenskoye to the royal palace.
Alexei Mikhailovich managed to convince the people to disperse peacefully. He promised that he would consider their petitions. People turned to Moscow. And in the capital, meanwhile, the shops of merchants and rich palaces had already been plundered.
But then a rumor spread among the people about the flight of Shorin's spy to Poland, and an excited crowd rushed to Kolomenskoye, meeting on the way the first rebels who were returning from the tsar to Moscow.
A huge crowd of people again appeared in front of the royal palace. But Alexei Mikhailovich has already called for help from the rifle regiments. A bloody massacre of the rebels began. Many people were then drowned in the Moscow River, others were chopped up with sabers or shot. After the suppression of the riot, an inquiry was conducted for a long time. The authorities tried to find out who was the author of the leaflets hanged around the capital.
Copper and silver kopecks from the time of Alexei Mikhailovich After all that happened, the king decided to cancel the copper money. This was stated by the royal decree of June 11, 1663. Now all calculations were again done only with silver coins.
Under Alexei Mikhailovich, the Boyar Duma gradually lost its significance, and the Zemsky Sobor after 1653 was no longer convened.
In 1654, the tsar created the "Order of his great sovereign of secret affairs." The order of the Secret Affairs delivered everything to the king necessary information on civil and military affairs and performed the functions of the secret police.
During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, the development of Siberian lands continued. In 1648, the Cossack Semyon Dezhnev discovered North America. In the late 40s - early 50s of the 17th century, explorers V. Poyarkov and E. Khabarov reached the Amur, where free settlers founded the Albazin voivodeship. At the same time, the city of Irkutsk was founded.
In the Urals, industrial development of mineral deposits began and precious stones.
Patriarch Nikon
At that time, it became necessary to carry out a reform of the church. Liturgical books were frayed to the limit, and a huge number of inaccuracies and errors accumulated in the texts copied by hand. Often church services in one church were very different from the same service in another. All this "disorder" was very hard to see for the young monarch, who was always very concerned about strengthening and spreading the Orthodox faith.
At the Cathedral of the Annunciation, the Moscow Kremlin was circle of "God-lovers", which included Alexei Mikhailovich. Among the "God-lovers" were several priests, the hegumen of the Novospassky monastery Nikon, the archpriest Avvakum and several secular nobles.
To help the circle in Moscow were invited Ukrainian scholarly monks who were engaged in the publication of liturgical literature. The Printing House was rebuilt and expanded. The number of published books intended for teaching has increased: "ABC", Psalter, Book of Hours; they were reprinted many times. In 1648, by order of the tsar, Smotritsky's "Grammar" was published.
But along with the distribution of books, persecutions of buffoons and folk customs, coming from paganism, began. Folk musical instruments were confiscated, playing the balalaikas was prohibited, masquerade masks, fortune-telling and even swings were strongly condemned.
Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich had already matured and no longer needed anyone's care. But the gentle, sociable nature of the tsar needed an advisor and a friend. Metropolitan Nikon of Novgorod became such a "sobin", especially beloved friend for the tsar.
After the death of Patriarch Joseph, the tsar proposed that his friend, the Novgorod Metropolitan Nikon, take the supreme clergy, whose views Alexei fully shared. In 1652 Nikon became the Patriarch of All Russia and the closest friend and advisor of the sovereign.
Patriarch Nikon for several years he carried out church reforms, which were supported by the sovereign. These innovations caused protest among many believers, they considered the corrections in the liturgical books a betrayal of the faith of their fathers and grandfathers.
The first to openly oppose all innovations were the monks of the Solovetsky Monastery. Church turmoil spread throughout the country. Archpriest Avvakum became an ardent enemy of innovations. Among the so-called Old Believers, who did not accept the changes introduced to the divine services by Patriarch Nikon, there were two women from the upper class: Princess Yevdokia Urusova and the noblewoman Theodosia Morozova.
Patriarch Nikon The Council of the Russian clergy in 1666 nevertheless accepted all the innovations and book corrections prepared by Patriarch Nikon. Of all Old Believers the church anathematized (cursed) and called them schismatics... Historians believe that in 1666 there was a split in the Russian Orthodox Church, it was split into two parts.
Patriarch Nikon, seeing the difficulties with which his reforms are going, voluntarily left the patriarchal throne. For this and for the "worldly" punishments of schismatics, unacceptable for the Orthodox Church, on the orders of Alexei Mikhailovich, Nikon was defrocked by the cathedral of the clergy and sent to the Ferapontov Monastery.
In 1681, Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich allowed Nikon to return to the New Jerusalem Monastery, but Nikon died on the way. Subsequently, Patriarch Nikon was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Stepan Razin Peasant war led by Stepan Razin
In 1670, the Peasant War began in the south of Russia. The uprising was led by the Don Cossack chieftain Stepan Razin.
The object of hatred of the rebels were boyars and officials, tsarist advisers and other dignitaries, not the king, but they were accused by the people of all the troubles and injustices that were happening in the state. The Tsar was for the Cossacks the embodiment of ideal and justice. The church anathematized Razin. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich urged the people not to join Razin, and then Razin moved to the Yaik River, took the Yaitsky town, then robbed Persian ships.
In May 1670, he went with his army to the Volga, took the cities of Tsaritsyn, Cherny Yar, Astrakhan, Saratov, Samara. He attracted many nationalities: Chuvash, Mordovians, Tatars, Cheremis.
Under the city of Simbirsk, Stepan Razin's army was defeated by Prince Yuri Baryatinsky, but Razin himself survived. He managed to escape to the Don, where he was extradited by the ataman Kornil Yakovlev, brought to Moscow and executed there on the Execution ground of the Red Square.
The participants in the uprising were also dealt with in the most cruel way. During the inquest, the most sophisticated tortures and executions were used against the rioters: cutting off arms and legs, quartering, gallows, mass exile, burning on the face of the letter "B", which meant involvement in the riot.
last years of life
By 1669, the wooden Kolomna Palace of fantastic beauty was built; it was the country residence of Alexei Mikhailovich.
In the last years of his life, the tsar became interested in theater. By his order, a court theater was founded, which presented performances based on biblical subjects.
In 1669 the Tsar's wife, Maria Ilyinichna, died. Two years after the death of his wife, Alexei Mikhailovich married a second time to a young noblewoman Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina, who gave birth to a son - the future Emperor Peter I and two daughters, Natalia and Theodora.
Alexei Mikhailovich outwardly looked like a very healthy person: he was white-faced and ruddy, fair-haired and blue-eyed, tall and obese. He was only 47 years old when he felt the signs of a terminal illness.
Tsar's wooden palace in Kolomenskoye The tsar blessed Tsarevich Fyodor Alekseevich (a son from his first marriage) for the kingdom, and appointed his grandfather, Kirill Naryshkin, the guardian of his young son Peter. Then the sovereign ordered the release of prisoners and exiles and forgive all debts to the treasury. Alexei Mikhailovich died on January 29, 1676 and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
Fedor Alekseevich Romanov - Tsar and Great Sovereign of All Russia
Lived 1661-1682
Reign years 1676-1682
Father - Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, tsar and great sovereign of all Russia.
Mother - Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, the first wife of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
Fedor Alekseevich Romanov was born in Moscow on May 30, 1661. During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, the question of succession to the throne arose more than once, since Tsarevich Alexei Alexeevich died at the age of 16, and the second tsar's son Fyodor was nine years old at that time.
After all, it was Fyodor who inherited the throne. This happened when he was 15 years old. The young Tsar was crowned king in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin on June 18, 1676. But Fyodor Alekseevich was not in good health; from childhood he was weak and sickly. He ruled the country for only six years.
Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich was excellently educated. He knew Latin well and spoke Polish fluently, knew a little the ancient Greek language. The tsar was versed in painting and church music, had "a great art in poetry and played fair verses", taught the basics of versification, he made a poetic translation of psalms for "Psalms" by Simeon of Polotsk. His ideas about royal power were formed under the influence of one of the talented philosophers of that time, Simeon of Polotsk, who was the former educator and spiritual mentor of the prince.
After the accession of the young Fyodor Alekseevich, at first, his stepmother, NK Naryshkina, tried to lead the country, and the relatives of Tsar Fyodor managed to remove her from affairs, sending her together with her son Peter (the future Peter I) into "voluntary exile" to the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow.
Friends and relatives of the young tsar were the boyar I.F. Golitsyn. These were "educated, capable and conscientious people." It was they, who had influence on the young tsar, who energetically set about creating a capable government.
Thanks to their influence under Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, the adoption of important state decisions was transferred to the Boyar Duma, the number of members of which increased from 66 to 99 under him. The Tsar was also inclined to personally take part in government.
Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich Romanov In matters of internal government of the country, Fyodor Alekseevich left a mark on the history of Russia with two innovations. In 1681, a project was developed for the creation of the later famous, and then the first in Moscow, Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, which was opened after the death of the king. Many figures of science, culture and politics left its walls. It was there that the great Russian scientist M.V. Lomonosov studied in the 18th century.
Moreover, representatives of all classes were to be allowed to study at the academy, and scholarships were assigned to the poor. The tsar was going to transfer the entire palace library to the academy, and future graduates could apply for high government positions at the court.
Fedor Alekseevich ordered to build special shelters for orphans and teach them various sciences and crafts. The sovereign wanted to arrange all the disabled in the poorhouse, which he built at his own expense.
In 1682, the Boyar Duma abolished once and for all the so-called parochialism... According to the tradition that existed in Russia, state and military people were appointed to various positions not in accordance with their merits, experience or abilities, but in accordance with parochialism, that is, with the place occupied in the state apparatus by the ancestors of the appointed person.
Simeon Polotsky The son of a man who once held a low position could never rise above the son of an official who once held a higher position. This state of affairs irritated many and hindered the effective management of the state.
At the request of Fedor Alekseevich, on January 12, 1682, the Boyar Duma abolished parochialism; rank books, in which "ranks" were written, that is, positions, were burned. Instead, all the old boyar families were rewritten into special genealogies so that their merits would not be forgotten by their descendants.
In 1678-1679, the government of Fyodor conducted a population census, canceled the decree of Alexei Mikhailovich on the non-extradition of fugitives who enrolled in military service, introduced household taxation (this immediately replenished the treasury, but increased serfdom).
In the years 1679-1680, an attempt was made to mitigate criminal penalties in the European manner, in particular, the chopping off of hands for theft was abolished. Since then, the perpetrators have been exiled to Siberia with their families.
Thanks to the construction of defensive structures in the south of Russia, it became possible to widely endow the nobles who sought to increase their land holdings, estates and estates.
The successful Russian-Turkish war (1676-1681), which ended with the Bakhchisarai Peace Treaty, which consolidated the unification of the Left-Bank Ukraine with Russia, became a major foreign policy action during the time of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. Russia received Kiev even earlier under an agreement with Poland in 1678.
During the reign of Fyodor Alekseevich, the entire Kremlin palace complex, including churches, was rebuilt. The buildings were connected with each other by galleries and passages; they were decorated in a new way with carved porches.
The Kremlin was equipped with a sewerage system, a flowing pond and many hanging gardens with gazebos. Fyodor Alekseevich had his own garden, for the decoration and arrangement of which he spared no expense.
Dozens of stone buildings, five-domed churches in Kotelniki and Presnya were built in Moscow. The sovereign issued loans to his subjects from the treasury for the construction of stone houses in Kitay-Gorod and forgave many debts.
Fedor Alekseevich saw in the construction of beautiful stone buildings The best way protecting the capital from fires. At the same time, the tsar believed that Moscow is the face of the state and admiration for its splendor should arouse respect for all of Russia among foreign ambassadors.
Church of St. Nicholas in Khamovniki, built during the reign of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich The king's personal life was very unhappy. In 1680, Fyodor Mikhailovich married Agafya Semyonovna Grushetskaya, but the queen died in childbirth along with her newborn son Ilya.
The tsar's new marriage was arranged by his closest adviser I. M. Yazykov. On February 14, 1682, Tsar Fyodor, almost against his will, was married to Martha Matveyevna Apraksina.
Two months after the wedding on April 27, 1682, the tsar, after a short illness, died in Moscow at the age of 21, leaving no heir. Fyodor Alekseevich was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
Ivan V Alekseevich Romanov - senior tsar and great sovereign of all Russia
Lived 1666-1696
Years of reign 1682-1696
Father - Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Tsar
and the great sovereign of all Russia.
Mother - Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya.
The future Tsar Ivan (John) V Alekseevich was born on August 27, 1666 in Moscow. When in 1682 the elder brother of Ivan V - Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich - died without leaving an heir, then 16-year-old Ivan V, as the next in seniority, had to inherit the royal crown.
But Ivan Alekseevich was a sick person from childhood and completely incapable of managing the country. That is why the boyars and patriarch Joachim proposed to remove him and elect his half-brother, 10-year-old Peter, the youngest son of Alexei Mikhailovich, as the next tsar.
Both brothers, one due to ill health, the other due to age, could not participate in the struggle for power. Instead of them, their relatives fought for the throne: for Ivan - his sister, Princess Sophia, and the Miloslavskys, relatives of his mother, and for Peter - the Naryshkins, relatives of the second wife of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. As a result of this struggle, a bloody archers riot.
The rifle regiments with their newly elected commanders headed for the Kremlin, followed by crowds of townspeople. The archers walking in front shouted accusations against the boyars, who allegedly poisoned Tsar Fyodor and were already attempting to kill Tsarevich Ivan.
Streltsy compiled in advance a list of the names of those boyars who were demanded for reprisals. They did not listen to any admonitions, and the demonstration of Ivan and Peter alive and well to them on the royal porch did not impress the rebels. And in front of the eyes of the princes, the archers threw the bodies of their relatives and boyars, familiar to them from birth, from the windows of the palace onto their spears. Sixteen-year-old Ivan after that forever abandoned state affairs, and Peter hated the archers for the rest of his life.
Then Patriarch Joachim proposed to proclaim both tsars at once: Ivan as the senior tsar, and Peter as the younger tsar, and appoint princess Sophia Alekseevna, Ivan's sister, regent (ruler) with them.
June 25, 1682 Ivan V Alekseevich and Peter I Alekseevich were married to the kingdom in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Even a special throne with two seats was erected for them, which is currently kept in the Armory.
Tsar Ivan V Alekseevich Although Ivan was called the senior tsar, he almost never dealt with state affairs, but only dealt with his family. Ivan V was the sovereign of Russia for 14 years, but his rule was formal. He only attended the palace ceremonies and signed documents, not understanding their essence. The real rulers under him were first Princess Sophia (from 1682 to 1689), and then power passed to his younger brother, Peter.
Since childhood, Ivan V grew up as a frail, sickly child with poor eyesight. Sister Sophia chose a bride for him, the beautiful Praskovya Fedorovna Saltykova. Marrying her in 1684 had a beneficial effect on Ivan Alekseevich: he became healthier and more cheerful.
Children of Ivan V and Praskovya Fedorovna Saltykova: Maria, Feodosia (died in infancy), Catherine, Anna, Praskovya.
Of the daughters of Ivan V, Anna Ivanovna later became an empress (ruled 1730-1740). His granddaughter became ruler Anna Leopoldovna. The reigning descendant of Ivan V was also his great-grandson - Ivan VI Antonovich (formally he was listed as emperor from 1740 to 1741).
According to the memoirs of a contemporary of Ivan V, at the age of 27 he looked like a decrepit old man, saw very poorly and, according to one foreigner, was stricken with paralysis. "Tsar Ivan was sitting in an indifferent, deathlike statue on his silver armchair under the icons, wearing a monomakh hat, pulled over his very eyes, lowered down and not looking at anyone."
Ivan V Alekseevich died at the age of 30, January 29, 1696 in Moscow and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
Silver double throne of Tsars Ivan and Peter Alekseevich Princess Sophia Alekseevna - ruler of Russia
Lived 1657-1704
Reign years 1682-1689
Mother - the first wife of Alexei Mikhailovich, Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya.
Sofya Alekseevna was born on September 5, 1657. She was never married and had no children. Her only passion was the desire to rule.
In the fall of 1682, Sophia, with the help of the noble militia, suppressed the streltsy movement. The further development of Russia required serious reforms. However, Sophia felt that her power was fragile, and therefore refused to innovate.
During her reign, the search for serfs was somewhat weakened, minor indulgences were made to the townspeople, in the interests of the church, Sophia intensified the persecution of the Old Believers.
In 1687, the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy was opened in Moscow. In 1686, Russia concluded "Eternal Peace" with Poland. According to the agreement, Russia received "for eternity" Kiev with the adjacent area, but for this Russia undertook to start a war with the Crimean Khanate, since the Crimean Tatars devastated Rzeczpospolita (Poland).
In 1687, Prince V.V. Golitsyn led the Russian army on a campaign against the Crimea. The troops reached the tributary of the Dnieper, at this time the Tatars set fire to the steppe, and the Russians were forced to turn back.
In 1689 Golitsyn made his second trip to the Crimea. Russian troops reached Perekop, but could not take it and returned ingloriously. These failures hit hard on the prestige of the ruler Sophia. Many of the princess's adherents have lost faith in her.
In August 1689, a coup took place in Moscow. Peter came to power, and Princess Sophia was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent.
Sophia's life in the monastery was initially calm and even happy. She had a wet nurse and maids. From the royal kitchen she was sent good food and various goodies. Visitors were allowed to Sophia at any time, she could, at will, walk throughout the territory of the monastery. Only at the gate stood a guard of soldiers loyal to Peter.
Princess Sophia Alekseevna During Peter's stay abroad in 1698, the archers raised another uprising in order to transfer the rule of Russia again to Sophia.
The uprising of the archers ended in failure, they were defeated by the troops loyal to Peter, and the leaders of the riot were executed. Peter returned from abroad. The executions of the archers were repeated.
After a personal interrogation of Peter, Sophia was forcibly tonsured into a nun under the name of Susanna. She was under strict supervision. Peter ordered the executions of the archers right under the windows of Sophia's cell.
She was imprisoned in a monastery under the vigilant supervision of the guards for another five years. Sofia Alekseevna died in 1704 in the Novodevichy Convent.
Peter I - Great Tsar, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia
Lived 1672-1725
Years of reign 1682-1725
Father - Alexei Mikhailovich, tsar and great sovereign of all Russia.
Mother - the second wife of Alexei Mikhailovich, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina.
Peter the Great- Russian tsar (since 1682), the first Russian emperor (since 1721), an outstanding statesman, commander and diplomat, all of whose activities are associated with radical transformations and reforms in Russia aimed at eliminating Russia's lag behind European countries at the beginning of the 18th century ...
Pyotr Alekseevich was born on May 30, 1672 in Moscow, and immediately bells rang joyfully throughout the capital. Various mothers and nannies were assigned to little Peter, and special chambers were allocated. The best craftsmen made furniture, clothes, toys for the tsarevich. From an early age, the boy was especially fond of toy weapons: a bow with arrows, sabers, guns.
Alexei Mikhailovich ordered an icon for Peter with the image of the Holy Trinity on one side, and the Apostle Peter on the other. The icon was made to match the height of a newborn prince. Peter subsequently always took her with him, believing that this icon protects him from misfortunes and brings good luck.
Peter was educated at home under the supervision of "uncle" Nikita Zotov. He lamented that by the age of 11 the prince was not doing too much in literacy, history and geography, captured by the military "fun" first in the village of Vorobyov, then in the village of Preobrazhenskoye. In these "amusing" games of the king, specially created "Funny" shelves(which later became the guard and the core of the Russian regular army).
Physically strong, agile, inquisitive, Peter mastered with the participation of palace craftsmen carpentry, arms, blacksmith, watchmaking, printing crafts.
The tsar knew German from early childhood, later studied Dutch, partly English and French languages.
The inquisitive prince liked very much the books of historical content, decorated with miniatures. Especially for him, court artists created amusing notebooks with vivid drawings depicting ships, weapons, battles, cities - from which Peter studied history.
After the death of the brother of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich in 1682, as a result of a compromise between the family clans of the Miloslavskys and the Naryshkins, Peter was elevated to the Russian throne simultaneously with his half-brother Ivan V - under the regency (governing the country) of his sister, Princess Sofia Alekseevna.
During her reign, Peter lived in the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow, where the "amusing" shelves he created were housed. There he met the son of the court groom, Alexander Menshikov, who became his friend and support for life, and other "young robes of a simple family." Peter learned to value not nobility and nobility, but the ability of a person, his ingenuity and dedication.
Peter the Great Under the guidance of the Dutchman F. Timmerman and the Russian master R. Kartsev, Peter learned shipbuilding, in 1684 he sailed on his boat along the Yauza.
In 1689, his mother forced Peter to marry the daughter of a nobleman, EF Lopukhina (who gave birth to his son Alexei a year later). Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina became the wife of 17-year-old Peter Alekseevich on January 27, 1689, but the marriage had almost no effect on him. The tsar did not betray his habits and inclinations. Peter did not love his young wife and spent all the time with friends in the German settlement. There, in 1691, Peter met the daughter of a German craftsman Anna Mons, who became his lover and girlfriend.
Foreigners had a great influence on the formation of his interests. F. J. Lefort, Ya. W. Bruce and P.I. Gordon- first Peter's teacher in various fields, and later - his closest associates.
At the beginning of glorious days
By the beginning of the 1690s, near the village of Preobrazhenskoye, real battles were already taking place with the participation of tens of thousands of people. Soon two regiments, Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky, were formed from the former "funny" regiment.
At the same time, Peter laid the foundation for the first shipyard on Lake Pereyaslavskoye and began building ships. Even then, the young sovereign dreamed of access to the sea, so necessary for Russia. The first Russian warship was launched in 1692.
Peter started state affairs only after the death of his mother in 1694. By this time, he had already built ships at the Arkhangelsk shipyard and sailed on them in the sea. The tsar came up with his own flag, consisting of three stripes - red, blue and white, which adorned Russian ships at the beginning of the Northern War.
In 1689, having removed his sister Sophia from power, Peter I became de facto tsar. After the untimely death of his mother (who was only 41 years old), and in 1696 - and his co-ruler Ivan V, Peter I became an autocrat not only in fact, but also legally.
Having barely established himself on the throne, Peter I personally participated in the Azov campaigns against Turkey in 1695-1696, which ended with the capture of Azov and the exit of the Russian army to the shores of the Sea of Azov.
However, trade relations with Europe could be carried out only by gaining access to the Baltic Sea and the return of Russian lands seized by Sweden during the Time of Troubles.
Transfiguration soldiers Under the guise of studying shipbuilding and maritime affairs, Peter I secretly traveled as one of the volunteers at the Great Embassy, and in 1697-1698 to Europe. There, under the name of Peter Mikhailov, the tsar passed full course artillery sciences in Konigsberg and Brandenburg.
For six months he worked as a carpenter in the shipyards of Amsterdam, studying ship architecture, drawing, then completed a theoretical course in shipbuilding in England. By his order, books, devices, weapons were purchased for Russia in these countries, foreign craftsmen and scientists were recruited.
The Grand Embassy prepared for the creation of the Northern Alliance against Sweden, which was finally formed two years later - in 1699.
In the summer of 1697, Peter I held negotiations with the Austrian emperor and planned to visit Venice as well, but having received news of the uprising of the archers in Moscow (to whom Princess Sophia promised to raise their salaries in the event of the overthrow of Peter I), he urgently returned to Russia.
On August 26, 1698, Peter I began a personal investigation into the case of the Streltsy riot and did not spare any of the rebels - 1,182 people were executed. Sophia and her sister Martha were tonsured into nuns.
In February 1699, Peter I ordered the disbanding of the rifle regiments and the beginning of the formation of regular ones - soldiers and dragoons, since "until now this state had no infantry."
Soon, Peter I signed decrees, under pain of fines and flogging, instructing men to "cut their beards," which was considered a symbol of the Orthodox faith. The young tsar ordered everyone to wear European-style clothes, and women to reveal their hair, which had previously always been carefully hidden under headscarves and headdresses. So Peter I prepared Russian society for radical changes, eliminating the patriarchal foundations of the Russian way of life by his decrees.
Since 1700, Peter I introduced a new calendar with the beginning of the new year - January 1 (instead of September 1) and the chronology of the "Nativity of Christ", which he also considered as a step in breaking outdated morals.
In 1699, Peter I finally broke up with his first wife. More than once he persuaded her to take monastic tonsure, but Evdokia refused. Without the consent of his wife, Peter I took her to Suzdal, to the Pokrovsky convent, where she was tonsured as a nun under the name of Elena. The tsar took his eight-year-old son Alexei to himself.
North War
The primary task of Peter I was the creation of a regular army and the construction of a fleet. On November 19, 1699, the tsar issued a decree on the formation of 30 infantry regiments. But the training of the soldiers did not go as fast as the king wanted.
Simultaneously with the formation of the army, all conditions were created for a powerful breakthrough in the development of industry. Approximately 40 factories and factories have sprung up over the course of several years. Peter I directed the Russian craftsmen to adopt all the most valuable from foreigners and do even better than theirs.
By the beginning of 1700, Russian diplomats managed to conclude peace with Turkey and sign treaties with Denmark and Poland. Having concluded the Peace of Constantinople with Turkey, Peter I switched the country's efforts to the struggle with Sweden, which at that time was ruled by 17-year-old Charles XII, who, despite his youth, was considered a talented commander.
North War The years 1700-1721 for Russia's access to the Baltic began with the battle of Narva. But the 40,000-strong untrained and poorly trained Russian army lost this battle to the army of Charles XII. Calling the Swedes “the teachers of the Russians,” Peter I ordered reforms to be carried out to make the Russian army combat-ready. The Russian army began to transform before our eyes, and domestic artillery began to emerge.
A. D. Menshikov Alexander Danilovich Menshikov
On May 7, 1703, Peter I and Alexander Menshikov in boats made a fearless attack on two Swedish ships at the mouth of the Neva and won.
For this battle, Peter I and his favorite Menshikov received the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.
Alexander Danilovich Menshikov- the son of a groom, who traded hot cakes in childhood, rose from the tsar's orderly to the generalissimo, received the title of His Serene Highness.
Menshikov was practically the second person in the state after Peter I, his closest associate in all state affairs. Peter I appointed Menshikov governor of all the Baltic lands reclaimed from the Swedes. Menshikov put a lot of effort and energy into the construction of St. Petersburg, and his merit in this is invaluable. True, for all his merits, Menshikov was also the most famous Russian embezzler.
Founding of St. Petersburg
By the middle of 1703, all the lands from the sources to the mouth of the Neva were in the hands of the Russians.
On May 16, 1703, Peter I laid the foundation for the fortress of St. Petersburg on the Vesyoliy Island - a wooden fortress with six bastions. A small house for the sovereign was built next to it. Alexander Menshikov was appointed the first governor of the fortress.
The tsar predicted to Petersburg not only the role of a trading port, but a year later, in a letter to the governor, he called the city the capital, and to protect it from the sea ordered to lay a sea fortress on the island of Kotlin (Kronstadt).
In the same 1703, 43 ships were built at the Olonets shipyard, and a shipyard called Admiralteyskaya was founded at the mouth of the Neva. On it, the construction of ships began in 1705, and the first ship was launched already in 1706.
The laying of the new future capital coincided with changes in the tsar's personal life: he met the washerwoman Marta Skavronskaya, who was given to Menshikov as a "war trophy". Martha was captured in one of the battles of the Northern War. The Tsar soon named her Ekaterina Alekseevna, christening Martha into Orthodoxy. In 1704, she became the common-law wife of Peter I, and by the end of 1705, Peter Alekseevich became the father of the son of Catherine, Pavel.
Children of Peter I
Domestic affairs were very depressing for the reformer king. His son Alexei disagreed with his father's vision of proper government. Peter I tried to influence him by persuasion, then threatened to imprison him in a monastery.
Fleeing from such a fate, in 1716 Alexei fled to Europe. Peter I declared his son a traitor, achieved his return and imprisoned him in a fortress. In 1718, the tsar personally conducted his investigative business, seeking the abdication of Alexei from the throne and the issuance of the names of his accomplices. The "case of the tsarevich" ended with the imposition of the death sentence on Alexei.
Children of Peter I from marriage with Evdokia Lopukhina - Natalya, Pavel, Alexei, Alexander (all, except for Alexei, died in infancy).
Children from a second marriage with Marta Skavronskaya (Ekaterina Alekseevna) - Ekaterina, Anna, Elizabeth, Natalya, Margarita, Peter, Pavel, Natalya, Peter (except for Anna and Elizabeth they died in infancy).
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich Poltava victory
In 1705-1706, a wave of popular uprisings took place in Russia. People were dissatisfied with the violence of the governor, detectives and profit-makers. Peter I brutally suppressed all unrest. Simultaneously with the suppression of internal unrest, the king continued to prepare for further battles with the army of the Swedish king. Peter I regularly offered peace to Sweden, which the Swedish king constantly rejected.
Charles XII with his army slowly moved east, intending to eventually take Moscow. After the capture of Kiev, the Ukrainian hetman Mazepa was supposed to rule in it, who went over to the side of the Swedes. All southern lands, according to Karl's plan, were distributed among the Turks, Crimean Tatars and other supporters of the Swedes. In the event of a victory of the Swedish troops, the Russian state was expected to be destroyed.
On July 3, 1708, the Swedes attacked the Russian corps headed by Repnin near the village of Golovchina in Belarus. Under the onslaught of the royal army, the Russians retreated, and the Swedes entered Mogilev. The defeat at Golovchin was an excellent lesson for the Russian army. Soon, the tsar with his own hand drew up the "Rules of Battle", which dealt with the perseverance, courage and mutual assistance of soldiers in battle.
Peter I watched the actions of the Swedes, studied their maneuvers, trying to lure the enemy into a trap. The Russian army marched ahead of the Swedish one and, by order of the tsar, ruthlessly destroyed everything in its path. Bridges and mills were destroyed, villages and grain in the fields were burned. Residents fled into the forest and took their cattle with them. The Swedes walked across the scorched, devastated land, the soldiers were starving. The Russian cavalry tormented the enemy with constant attacks.
Poltava battle Sly Mazepa advised Karl XII to seize Poltava, which is of great strategic importance. On April 1, 1709, the Swedes stood under the walls of this fortress. The three-month siege did not bring Charles XII success. All attempts to storm the fortress were repulsed by the Poltava garrison.
On June 4, Peter I arrived at Poltava. Together with the commanders, he developed a detailed plan of action, which provided for all possible changes in the course of the battle.
On June 27, the Swedish royal army was utterly defeated. The Swedish king himself could not be found, he fled with Mazepa towards the Turkish possessions. In this battle, the Swedes lost more than 11 thousand soldiers, of which 8 thousand were killed. The Swedish king, fleeing, abandoned the remnants of his army, which surrendered at the mercy of Menshikov. The army of Charles XII was practically destroyed.
Peter I after Poltava victory he generously rewarded the heroes of battles, distributed ranks, orders and lands. Soon the tsar ordered the generals to hurry up with the liberation of the entire Baltic coast from the Swedes.
Until 1720, hostilities between Sweden and Russia were sluggish, protracted. And only the naval battle at Grengam, which ended with the defeat of the Swedish military squadron, put an end to the history of the Northern War.
The long-awaited peace treaty between Russia and Sweden was signed in Nystadt on August 30, 1721. Sweden got back most of Finland, and Russia got access to the sea.
For the victory in the Northern War, the Senate and the Holy Synod on January 20, 1721 approved the new title of Tsar Peter the Great: “Father of the Fatherland, Peter the Great and Emperor of All Russia».
Having forced the Western world to recognize Russia as one of the great European powers, the emperor set about solving urgent problems in the Caucasus. The Persian campaign of Peter I in 1722-1723 secured the western coast of the Caspian Sea to Russia with the cities of Derbent and Baku. For the first time in the history of Russia, permanent diplomatic missions and consulates were established there, and the importance of foreign trade increased.
The emperor
The emperor(from the Latin imperator - sovereign) - the title of the monarch, head of state. Originally in Ancient rome the word imperator denoted the supreme power: military, judicial, administrative, which was possessed by high consuls and dictators. Since the time of the Roman emperor Augustus and his successors, the title of emperor has acquired a monarchical character.
With the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, the title of emperor was preserved in the East - in Byzantium. Subsequently, in the West, it was restored by the emperor Charlemagne, then by the German king Otto I. Later, this title was assumed by the monarchs of some other states. In Russia, Peter the Great was proclaimed the first emperor - that is how they began to call him.
Coronation
With the adoption by Peter I of the title "Emperor of All Russia", the rite of wedding to the kingdom was replaced by a coronation, which entailed changes both in the church ceremony and in the composition of the regalia.
Coronation - the rite of entry into the reign.
For the first time, the coronation ceremony was performed in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin on May 7, 1724, Emperor Peter I crowned his wife Catherine as empress. The coronation process was drawn up according to the order of the wedding to the kingdom of Fyodor Alekseevich, but with some changes: Peter I personally placed the imperial crown on his wife.
The first Russian imperial crown was made of gilded silver, similar to church crowns for weddings. The cap of Monomakh was not put on at the coronation; it was carried in front of the solemn procession. During the coronation of Catherine, she was awarded a golden minor power - a "globe".
Imperial crown In 1722, Peter issued a decree on succession to the throne, which stated that the reigning sovereign appoints the successor to power.
Peter the Great made a will, where he left the throne to his wife Catherine, but he destroyed the will in a fit of rage. (The sovereign was informed of the betrayal of his wife with the chamber-junker Mons.) For a long time, Peter I could not forgive the empress for this offense, and he did not have time to write a new will.
Fundamental reforms
Peter's decrees of 1715-1718 dealt with all aspects of the life of the state: leatherworking, workshops uniting artisans, the creation of manufactories, the construction of new arms factories, the development Agriculture and much more.
Peter the Great radically rebuilt the entire system of government. Instead of the Boyar Duma, the Near Chancellery was established, consisting of 8 confidants of the sovereign. Then, on its basis, Peter I established the Senate.
The Senate initially existed as a temporary governing body in the event of the absence of the tsar. But soon it became permanent. The Senate had judicial power, administrative and managerial and sometimes legislative power. The composition of the Senate changed by the decision of the tsar.
All of Russia was divided into 8 provinces: Siberian, Azov, Kazan, Smolensk, Kiev, Arkhangelsk, Moscow and Ingermanland (Petersburg). 10 years after the formation of the provinces, the sovereign decided to subdivide the provinces and divided the country into 50 provinces, headed by governors. Provinces survived, but there are already 11 of them.
Over the course of more than 35 years of reign, Peter the Great managed to carry out a huge number of reforms in the field of culture and education. Their main result was the emergence of secular schools in Russia and the elimination of the monopoly of the clergy on education. Peter the Great founded and opened: School of Mathematics and Navigational Sciences (1701), Medical and Surgical School (1707) - the future Military Medical Academy, Naval Academy (1715), Engineering and Artillery Schools (1719).
In 1719, the first museum in Russian history began to operate - Kunstkamera with a public library. Primer books, educational maps were published and, in general, a beginning was laid for the systematic study of the country's geography and mapping.
The spread of literacy was facilitated by the reform of the alphabet (replacement of cursive with civilian type in 1708), the release of the first Russian printed newspaper "Vedomosti"(since 1703).
Holy Synod- This is also an innovation of Peter, created as a result of the church reform he carried out. The emperor decided to deprive the church of its own funds. By his decree of December 16, 1700, the Patriarchal Order was dissolved. The church no longer had the right to dispose of its property; all funds were now going into the state treasury. In 1721, Peter I abolished the dignity of the Russian patriarch, replacing it with the Holy Synod, which included representatives of the highest clergy of Russia.
In the era of Peter the Great, many buildings were erected for state and cultural institutions, an architectural ensemble Peterhof(Petrodvorets). Fortresses were built Kronstadt, Peter-Pavel's Fortress, the planned development of the Northern capital - St. Petersburg began, which marked the beginning of urban planning and the construction of residential buildings on typical projects.
Peter I - dentist
Tsar Peter I the Great "was an eternal worker on the throne." He knew 14 crafts or, as they said then, “handicrafts” well, but medicine (more precisely, surgery and dental treatment) was one of his main hobbies.
During his trips to Western Europe, being in Amsterdam in 1698 and 1717, Tsar Peter I visited the anatomical museum of Professor Frederick Ruysch and diligently took lessons from him in anatomy and medicine. Returning to Russia, Pyotr Alekseevich established in Moscow in 1699 a course of lectures on anatomy for boyars, with a visual demonstration on corpses.
The author of The History of the Acts of Peter the Great, I. I. Golikov, wrote about this royal hobby: “He ordered himself to be notified if in the hospital ... it was necessary to dissect the body or do some kind of surgical operation, and ... rarely missed such a case , so as not to be present at it, and often even helped operations. Over time, he acquired so much skill that he could very skillfully dissect the body, bleed, pulled out his teeth and did it with great eagerness ... ".
Peter I always and everywhere carried with him two sets of instruments: measuring and surgical. Considering himself an experienced surgeon, the tsar was always glad to come to the rescue, as soon as he noticed any ailment in his entourage. And by the end of his life, Peter had a weighty bag in which 72 teeth he had personally pulled out were kept.
It must be said that the tsar's fascination with pulling out other people's teeth was very unpleasant for his entourage. Because it happened that he tore not only the sick, but also healthy teeth.
In 1724, one of Peter the Great's close associates wrote in his diary that Peter's niece "is in great fear that the emperor will soon take up her sore leg: it is known that he considers himself a great surgeon and willingly undertakes all kinds of operations on patients himself." ...
Today we cannot judge the degree of surgical skill of Peter I, it could be assessed only by the patient himself, and even then not always. After all, it happened that the operation performed by Peter ended in the death of the patient. Then the tsar with no less enthusiasm and knowledge of the matter began to dissect (cut) the corpse.
We must pay tribute to him: Peter was a good connoisseur of anatomy, in his free time from public affairs, he liked to cut out anatomical models of the human eye and ear from ivory.
Today, the teeth pulled out by Peter I and the instruments with which he performed surgical operations (without painkillers) can be seen in the St. Petersburg Kunstkamera.
In the last year of life
The stormy and arduous life of the great reformer could not but affect the health of the emperor, who by the age of 50 had earned many illnesses. Most of all he was bothered by kidney disease.
V Last year life, Peter I went to be treated on mineral water, but during the treatment, he still did hard physical work. In June 1724, at the Ugodsky factories, he personally forged several strips of iron, in August he was present at the descent of the frigate, then went on a long journey along the route: Shlisselburg - Olonetsk - Novgorod - Staraya Russa - Ladoga Canal.
Returning home, Peter I learned terrible news for him: his wife Catherine cheated on him with 30-year-old Willie Mons, the brother of the former favorite of the emperor - Anna Mons.
It was difficult to prove his wife's betrayal, so Willie Mons was accused of bribery and embezzlement. By the verdict of the court his head was cut off. Catherine had just hinted to Peter I about pardon when, in great anger, the emperor broke a delicate mirror in an expensive frame and said: “This is the most beautiful decoration of my palace. I want - and I will destroy it! ". Then Peter I subjected his wife to a difficult test - he took her to look at the severed head of Mons.
Soon, his kidney disease worsened. Peter I spent most of the last months of his life in bed in terrible agony. At times, the illness receded, then he got up and left the bedroom. At the end of October 1724, Peter I even took part in putting out a fire on Vasilievsky Island, and on November 5, he dropped in at the wedding of a German baker, where he spent several hours watching a foreign wedding ceremony and German dances. In the same November, the tsar participated in the betrothal of his daughter Anna and the Duke of Holstein.
Overcoming the pain, the emperor drew up and edited decrees and instructions. Three weeks before his death, Peter I was preparing instructions for the head of the Kamchatka expedition Vitus Bering.
Peter-Pavel's Fortress In mid-January 1725, bouts of renal colic became more frequent. According to the testimony of contemporaries, for several days Peter I shouted so loudly that it was heard far away. Then the pain became so strong that the king only moaned dully, biting the pillow. Peter I died on January 28, 1725 in terrible agony. His body remained unburied for forty days. All this time, his wife Catherine (soon proclaimed empress) cried twice a day over the body of her beloved husband.
Peter the Great was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, which he himself founded.
Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov ascended the throne of youths of incomplete 17 years. The nobles, the close representatives of the throne, saw in Mikhail Fyodorovich, with his timidity and frail health, kindness and simplicity, a kind of second edition of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich. Hence their calculations for his "Pretentiousness"... So it went at court, but - for the time being, for the time being, more precisely - until the return of the tsar's father from Polish captivity in 1619. The clever, domineering, gifted Filaret, who became the patriarch, ruled not only his spiritual department, but also together with his son the whole Russian state. He was officially called, like the king, "The great sovereign", in the letters the names of the tsar and the patriarch stood side by side.
How the tsar arranged, it seems, everyone, as they chose, according to the historian V.O. Klyuchevsky, "Not the most capable, but the most convenient"... In addition to the tsar and the patriarch, the affairs of state administration were handled, as has long been done, by the persons from the boyars and other nobles, who are pleasing to them - relatives, in-laws, favorites. These are the same Romanovs, Sheremetevs, Cherkassky, Streshnevs and others.
The king experienced personal shocks. When he turned 20, he chose MI Khlopova, the daughter of an ordinary nobleman, who fell in love with him at the bride review. But Matushka, Eldress Martha (nee - Ksenia Ivanovna Shestova, daughter of a Kostroma nobleman, also ignorant), did not give him a blessing. In September 1624, he married Princess M.V. Dolgorukaya, reluctantly, however, - his feeling for the first darling did not cool down. But the young queen soon fell ill and died three and a half years later. A year later, the monarch entered into a second marriage - with E. L. Streshneva; from her he had a son Alexei, the future tsar, and daughters Irina, Anna, Tatiana; at an early age, sons Ivan and Vasily, daughters of Pelageya, Martha, Sophia and Evdokia, died. Mikhail Fedorovich died on the night of July 13, 1645 at the age of 49.
Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. His son and successor, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, did not live long. (born March 19, 1629, died January 29, 1676)... Having received the throne by right of inheritance, he professed faith in God's chosen king, his power. Distinguished, like his father, by gentleness, meekness of character, he could show irascibility and anger. Contemporaries paint his appearance: fullness, even obesity of the figure, low forehead and white face, plump and ruddy cheeks, Brown hair and a beautiful beard; finally, a soft look. His "Much quiet" disposition, piety and piety, love for church singing and falconry were combined with a penchant for innovation and knowledge.
In the first years of his reign, he played an important role in state affairs. "uncle"(educator) boyar B.I. Morozov, who became the king's brother-in-law (they were married to their own sisters), and relatives by their first wife - Miloslavskys.
Alexey Mikhailovich went through a turbulent era "Riots" and wars, rapprochement and discord with. Under him, the possessions of Russia expanded in the east, in Siberia, and in the west. Active diplomatic activity is being carried out.
Much has been done in the field of domestic policy as well. The course was carried out to centralize management, to strengthen the autocracy. The backwardness of the country dictated the invitation of foreign specialists in manufacturing, military affairs, the first experiments, attempts at transformations (the establishment of schools, regiments of the new system, etc.).
In his palace estates, the tsar was a zealous owner, strictly ensured that his serfs regularly performed their duties, made all kinds of payments. Alexey Mikhailovich had 13 children from his first wife MI Miloslavskaya; from the second - NK Naryshkina - three children. Many of them died early. Three of his sons became tsars (Fedor, Ivan and Peter), his daughter Sophia became regent under the juvenile czars-brothers (Ivan and Peter).
Royal power. Although Mikhail Romanov became tsar at the behest of the Zemsky Sobor - the body of estate representation, he, like his predecessors, quickly began to be regarded as the chosen sovereign of God, who received power from "Their forefathers"- representatives of the Rurik dynasty. The election of the first Romanov began to be presented as a manifestation of divine will. The same thoughts continue to develop in official acts and chronicles, publicistic and historical writings throughout the century.
On those rare occasions when the king appeared to the people, he amazed those who saw him with his splendor - rich clothes and carriages, dressed up by his retinue and numerous guards. Foreign diplomats, whom the tsar received in the Kremlin's Palace of Facets, were surprised by the solemn and mysterious Moscow ceremony, the splendor and richness of the premises with its luxurious decoration, the importance and strictness of customs; most of all - the personality of the king, immobile and unattainable, "Like God in the mountains", his magnificent endless title, which was supposed to be pronounced in full, without the slightest omission, in order (God forbid!) to prevent belittling the honor of the sovereign, and thus the state, Russian.
Boyar Duma under Mikhail Romanov
Boyar Duma. It was believed that Mikhail Fedorovich ruled the country together with the Boyar Duma. It included representatives of four Duma ranks: boyars, okolnichy, Duma noblemen and Duma clerks. In the first rank, the most important and prestigious, the tsars appointed persons from representatives of more than two dozen of the most noble families - Rurikovich and Gediminovich, i.e. descendants of the ruling houses Ancient Rus(Vorotynsky, Mstislavsky, etc.) and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Golitsyns, Kurakins, etc.), as well as old Moscow boyar families (Romanovs, Morozovs, Saltykovs, Sheremetevs, Sheins, etc.). All of them came from nearly sixty of the most ancient and noble families.
In the XVII century. a considerable number of people became members of the Duma due to kinship with the tsars along the female line: the Streshnevs under Tsar Mikhail, the Miloslavskys and Naryshkins under his son and grandchildren. The same role was played by the favor at court - this is how, for example, under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich A.S. Matveev and A.L. Ordin-Nashchokin rose to prominence.
The number of members of the Boyar Duma changed. At the end of the 70th. biennium it had 97 people: 42 boyars, 27 okolnichi, 19 Duma nobles and 9 Duma clerks. The aristocratic character of the Duma remained, but nevertheless did not remain unchanged - an increasing number of nobles and clerks entered the Duma.
The tsar met with the Duma in the palace or, in the case of his departure to the villages and monasteries near Moscow, outside the capital, since the Duma officials accompanied him. Usually the Duma did not meet with its full complement: someone served as a voivode in cities and regiments, someone went abroad as part of embassies 1. Duma sitting began at sunrise (in summer) or before sunrise (in winter) of the sun and sometimes continued with interruptions until late in the evening. Usually, at the order of the king, the most important state affairs were discussed and decided: the declaration of war, the conclusion of peace, the collection of emergency taxes, the adoption of a new law, etc., controversial or complex issues on the submission of orders - ministries of the XVII century, on the complaints of individuals. The decision of the Duma became a law or an explanation of it.
The role of the Boyar Duma is gradually decreasing. Along with her, there is a so-called "Near" or "Secret thought"... The tsar did not include all the boyars in it, but only some at his own discretion, sometimes not members. "big" Duma.
Despite the diminishing role of the Duma in the state in the second half of the century, it still ruled the country together with the tsar. Its final fall dates back to the reign of Peter I.
Zemsky Cathedrals... The role of the Zemsky Councils has changed even more. They became the organ of representation of the nobles and townspeople. At the beginning of the century, in the context of social upheavals, foreign invasions, and the weakening of state power, their importance has greatly increased.
And in the years of Troubles, and at the beginning of the reign of Tsar Michael central authority badly needed support "All the earth"... Zemsky sobors essentially turned into an organ of administrative power, in which representatives of the nobility and townspeople played a large, even decisive role. The council fulfilled its functions, which are so important and necessary for the country, with the permission and instructions of the supreme power, which was greatly concerned that after a terrible devastation, "Arrange the earth".
"The election of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the kingdom by the Zemsky Sobor". Painting by A. Kivshenko
Zemsky Cathedrals under Mikhail, they were convened often, almost annually. At first, they expressed the will of “all the earth” in their own way. But later, when Patriarch Filaret, the tsar's father, returned from captivity in Poland, when a permanent government was formed, the role of council deputies began to be reduced to initiating petitions before the supreme power, which made the appropriate decisions that became legislative norms.
The Zemsky Sobor from the very beginning was doomed to the role of an obedient instrument in the hands of the autocracy. First, most of the peasantry was excluded from representation at councils. Secondly, they were convened only when the supreme power needed them.
In the first half of the century, Zemsky Sobors considered issues of war and peace, collection of emergency taxes and relations with neighboring countries. After 1653, when the Zemsky Sobor made a decision on the acceptance of Little Russia into Russian citizenship, the activities of this estate-representative institution, in fact, ceased. The government sometimes convenes elected representatives from any one estate, and such commissions consider certain issues on its behalf. The emerging absolute monarchy no longer needs such a governing body. The same process of decline of representative bodies was taking place then in all European countries. The main pillars of power are the bureaucracy and the army.
Central and local government. In the area of governance, the government followed the path of bureaucratic centralization. In the XVII century. the command system has become much more ramified and cumbersome than in the previous century. With the expansion of the territory, the complication and revitalization of state, economic life, the number of central departments grew rapidly. There were up to 80 orders, but there were half as many permanent orders; the rest arose as needed and, having existed for a year or two, disappeared.
There was no clear division of functions between orders. Some were in charge of any branch of government throughout the country. Others could do the same thing in a certain area. The patchwork, confusion in the order management greatly interfered with the business.
The orders, on the one hand, were completely subordinate to the tsar and the Boyar Duma, did not have any independence in deciding matters, on the other hand, they pressed like a press on the local authorities, especially the elective government.
The first place among the orders belonged to the Rank order, or Rank. He unloaded, or dressed up, that is, distributed, appointed, service people in the homeland - nobles and boyar children - to serve in the military, civilian and court departments. Kept lists of all noblemen in cities with counties, the so-called tithes.
The local order was in charge of the local and patrimonial lands of the center European Russia, where the land holdings of the feudal lords were located - the estates that they owned on a conditional right (after the termination of the nobleman's service, this land returned to the royal treasury), and estates (unconditional, hereditary possessions). If the Rank determined the local "salary" nobleman - "the size of his land ownership, then the Local Order allocated a real "Dacha" from the available land fund.
Yamskaya order provided the organization of the Yamskaya chase - postal service for the needs of the state.
Three orders were in charge of finances. The order of the Big Parish collected customs revenues through its local representatives, monitored measures of length and weight. The order of the New Quarter, or the New Chet, was in charge of tavern fees in Moscow and southern cities, and fought against the illegal sale of wine and tobacco. The order of the Great Treasury had broad powers: it was subordinate to the state industry and trade, the merchants themselves were guests, the merchants of the Living Room and the Cloth of Hundreds; and finally, the Money House, that is, minting coins.
Some orders were in charge of court cases. The robber, who was involved in criminal proceedings, dealt with cases of murder, robbery, theft throughout the country, except for Moscow; Zemsky was in charge of criminal cases, and also carried out police functions in the capital.
Chiefs, clerks, clerks, watchmen of the orders themselves were tried in the petty order. He also acted as the highest court of appeal in all other orders. The order seemed to stand above other institutions. The Order of Secret Affairs, which controlled the activities of all state institutions, ambassadors, and voivods, had similar, but broader functions. The entire household of the royal family was subordinate to him. It existed, however, not for long: from 1654 until the death of Alexei Mikhailovich (1676).
The competence of several orders was of a regional nature. The entire Volga region, the lands of the former Kazan and Astrakhan khanates were ruled by the Order of the Kazan Palace. He was in charge of the lands of Siberia. In 1637, a special Siberian order was established to govern Siberia. Yasak entered it.
A special place was occupied by a group of palace orders in charge of servicing the royal family and court.
Foreign policy functions were the prerogative of the Ambassador Prikaz. He was in charge of relations with foreign countries, sent embassies there, received foreign embassies, dealt with foreign merchants, including judicial ones. He also collected taxes from all over the country for the ransom of prisoners - polyanyan money.
The defense of the state, and this is also a function of a foreign policy nature, was dealt with by a group of military orders, which simultaneously had some internal political functions. The discharge order, the main one, directed military operations. Other orders - Streletsky, Pushkarsky, Inozemsky, Reitarsky and Cossack - were in charge of special types of troops.
There was no unity in the distribution of cases between orders. All this cumbersome colossus was difficult to control the supreme power. She was looking for a way out in the organization of orders placed above all other orders: Secret, Petty, etc .; in the transfer of control of a number of orders (for example, Posolsky and the institutions connected with it) into the hands of one chief, usually a boyar.
The dark sides of the order system - confusion in competence, petty tutelage from above and the equally petty pressure of the orders themselves on local government bodies, the famous Moscow red tape and bribery - aroused criticism from citizens, who often raised uprisings aimed, among other things, against imposed abuses.
The main territorial and administrative unit of the country was the county. Its formation dates back to the times when separate principalities and their estates were included in a single state. Of these, counties grew, differing both in size and population. They were divided into camps and volosts.
Back in the middle of the XVI century. in the districts, instead of governors and volostels, zemstvo huts appeared, headed by zemstvo elders. The peasants and townspeople elected them from among their midst, and the elders managed the townships and volosts, collected taxes, and conducted a civil court. Criminal cases were examined by laborers who were sitting in labial huts; they were elected from their midst by local nobles.
By the end of the 16th century. in a number of border towns and counties, where a strong power was required, voivods appeared, and not only in the role of a military leader, but also as a chief administrator and judge in both civil and criminal cases. He was responsible for the receipt of all fees, the implementation of state services, all kinds of duties, had police functions. Since the beginning of the 17th century. Voivodship power gradually and rather quickly spreads throughout the country.
Cathedral Code of 1649 After the Troubles, legislative activity revived. The events of the beginning of the century had undermined all institutions and institutions to such an extent that with the accession of Mikhail Fedorovich, much had to be restored, altered or done anew. One contemporary remarked quite accurately in this connection: "The kingdom has begun to be built anew."
After the Code of Law of 1550, new material was accumulated — decrees and sentences of higher authorities. And when, during the Moscow uprising of 1648, the nobles and townspeople raised the issue of streamlining management, including the drafting of a new set of laws, the authorities who agreed with this requirement turned out to have extensive material from "New-case articles".
The compilation of the code was entrusted to a commission of five people - the boyars of Prince Odoevsky (head of the commission) and Prince Prozorovsky, the okolnichego Prince Volkonsky, Dyakov Griboyedov and Leontiev. "Order of Prince Odoevsky" and made the Cathedral Code. In January 1649 it was approved at the Zemsky Sobor, then printed in the Moscow printing house and sent to institutions throughout the country. It consisted of 25 chapters and 967 articles!
Cathedral Code of 1649- a noticeable step forward in the development of domestic legislation. First of all, it speaks of the nobility, protects its interests; treats and issues related to the situation of other estates: landlord and black-nosy peasants, townspeople, serfs, archers, Cossacks and others.
Photo. Cathedral Code of 1649
Code is a code of feudal law. He meets the requirements of the nobility and the top of the posad world. Chapter XI - "Court of the peasants"- treats in detail the question of a peasant fortress. The search for fugitive peasants becomes indefinite, it is said about a fine for harboring fugitives, about the right of a landowner and patrimonial landlord to the property of a peasant, which was used to pay off debts of insolvent owners, about the right of nobles to actually buy and sell peasants, etc.
The Code proceeds from the monopoly of the estate rights of the feudal lords to land and peasants. But it also provides for their duty to serve from estates and estates; for evasion of service threatens with confiscation of half of the estate, beating with a whip, for treason - the death penalty and complete confiscation of property.
An important place in the Code was occupied by issues of protecting the honor and health of the tsar, the tsarist power, representatives "Sovereign's court" and churches. It introduces in this connection the concept of a state crime.
In general, the Cathedral Code stood to protect the interests of the autocratic monarchy, the upper classes of society, legitimizing the final form of serfdom and the trend of transition to absolutism in the state and political life of Russia.
Court and army... The highest courts were the tsar and the Boyar Duma. The bulk of court cases were decided in orders, as well as by governors, landowners and patrimonials. It is characteristic that the bodies of state power and administration were in charge of the court. The court was distinguished by the autocracy of clerks, local bosses, red tape and bribery. Along with the adversarial process (listening to the testimony of the plaintiff and the defendant), the detective with his denunciations and arrests, confrontations and torture became more and more widespread.
The Russian army was formed from service people in the fatherland (feudal lords from the Duma, Moscow ranks, city nobles and boyar children), service people by device (archers, city Cossacks, gunners, etc.), non-Russian peoples - Bashkirs, Tatars, etc. to serve in cities and regiments twice a year or on military campaigns with their armed servants. The instrumentation was completed from free, eager people, relatives of the archers themselves, etc.
In wartime, from the tax-paying estates, tributary and pososny people were collected for auxiliary work in the army and participation in hostilities.
The total number of warriors, by the end of the XVI century. which amounted to 100 thousand people, during the years of Troubles and after it, it greatly decreased, it was possible to restore it only by the beginning of the 30s. XVII century
In 1630, the creation of regiments of a new system began - soldiers, reitars, dragoons. Two decades later, recruits from peasants and townspeople began to be carried out for this. The role of the noble local cavalry gradually declined. Conversely, the role of soldiers and archers increased. For example, in 1651 there were 37.5 thousand noblemen and boyar children in the Russian army; thirty years later (1680), only 15.8 thousand. The number of soldiers increased dramatically.
Anastasia Ksenofontova
On March 3, 1613, in the Moscow Kremlin, the Zemsky Sobor elected young Mikhail Romanov to the throne. The son of Patriarch Filaret ruled for over 30 years and is remembered as a sovereign of "good disposition." However, a number of historians claim that power at that time actually belonged to Filaret, since the young tsar was extremely inexperienced and not independent. Others believe that it was thanks to the founder of the Romanov dynasty that the long-awaited period of stability and prosperity began. What circumstances brought the young Mikhail Romanov to the throne and what influence he had on the history of Russia - in the RT material.
- Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov
- globallookpress.com
- Viktor Kornushin
Difficult childhood
The future founder was born in 1596 into a family of Moscow boyars Romanovs: Fyodor Nikitich (later Patriarch Filaret) and his wife Ksenia Ivanovna. Mikhail Fyodorovich was the great-nephew of Ivan the Terrible and the great-nephew of the last Russian tsar from the Moscow branch of the Rurik dynasty - Fyodor Ivanovich.
During the Time of Troubles, Boris Godunov viewed the Romanovs as his main rivals who wanted to take the Moscow throne. Therefore, very soon the whole family fell into disgrace. In 1600, Fyodor Nikitich and his wife were forcibly tonsured and left worldly life under the names Filaret and Martha. This deprived them of their right to the crown.
In 1605, False Dmitry I came to power. In an effort to confirm his belonging to the royal family, the impostor ordered the return of the Romanovs from exile. By coincidence, the freed Filaret occupied the main church post under False Dmitry. When the impostor was overthrown by Vasily Shuisky, Filaret from 1608 took on the role of the "named patriarch" of the new impostor False Dmitry II, who set up his camp in Tushino. However, in front of the enemies of the "Tushino thief" Filaret called himself his prisoner.
- Unknown artist. Portrait of the nun Martha (Ksenia Ivanovna Shestova)
Some time later, Filaret flatly refused to sign the agreement drawn up by the Poles on the transfer of the Russian throne to the Polish prince, Catholic Vladislav. For disobedience, the Poles arrested Filaret and released him only in 1619, when an armistice was concluded with Poland.
Meanwhile, Mikhail Romanov spent several years in the Vladimir region at his uncle's estate. In Moscow, he found himself in the midst of the Polish-Lithuanian occupation, after Vasily Shuisky was overthrown and the Seven Boyars was established. In the winter of 1612, nun Martha and her son took refuge in their estate near Kostroma, and then fled from Polish-Lithuanian persecution in the Ipatiev Monastery.
Only with the liberation of the capital in 1613 was the revival of Russian statehood possible. Therefore, at the beginning of the same year, the first all-estates Zemsky Sobor was convened, in which both the townspeople and the rural inhabitants took part. A new ruler was to be elected by voting.
"Consolidating figure"
“The accession of Mikhail Fedorovich to the throne became possible after the very difficult trials of the Troubles, the self-organization of the zemstvo worlds, which formed the first and second militias for the liberation of Moscow in 1612. It was the Zemsky Council of All the Lands that convened a council to elect the tsar, and after the election of Mikhail Romanov on March 3, 1613, he received power from all officials of the Russian state. The initial general agreement with the candidacy of Mikhail Romanov as a relative of the last legitimate tsar before the Troubles, Fyodor Ivanovich, was important, "said Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of Ryazansky in an interview with RT. state university named after Sergei Yesenin Vyacheslav Kozlyakov.
- Ivanov S.V. "Zemsky Sobor" (1908)
More than ten candidates were nominated at the Zemsky Sobor, including princes Dmitry Trubetskoy and Dmitry Pozharsky. “Foreign princes” were no longer considered candidates for the Russian throne.
“Mikhail Fedorovich turned out to be a consolidating figure for many. After the Time of Troubles, when the militia liberated Moscow, Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich was perceived as the last legitimate tsar, after which the chosen tsars appeared who had no direct relation to this tradition, impostors. Mikhail was the closest relative of the last legitimate Moscow tsar from the Rurik dynasty, "said Evgeny Pchelov, head of the department of auxiliary and special historical disciplines of the Historical and Archival Institute of the Russian State Humanitarian University, in an interview with RT.
The expert also emphasized that Mikhail Fedorovich was all the time out of the political struggle that unfolded during the Time of Troubles, he did not personally declare claims to the throne, did not take part in the meetings of the Council. But it was his figure that symbolized the continuity of power.
Heavy "legacy"
“After the election of the tsar, the restoration of power immediately began, which was reduced to the order“ as it happened ”. No one took revenge on anyone, the boyars who were sitting in Moscow during its siege by the zemstvo militias remained in power and again entered the Boyar Duma. And nevertheless, the first years of the reign of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich turned out to be very difficult, but at this time the priorities were correctly set: restoring the state, pacifying the rebellious Cossacks, returning the lost territories, ”says Kozlyakov.
After the conclusion of an armistice with Poland, the Poles freed Filaret from captivity in 1619. It is widely believed that until the death of the patriarch in 1633, all power was actually in his hands.
“Despite the great role of Filaret, Mikhail Fyodorovich was a completely independent sovereign, but he inevitably had to rely on someone's support and help during several years of the first period of his reign. The Zemsky Sobor provided great support to Mikhail Fedorovich, "Pchelov said.
Experts say that the first years of the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich, when the new sovereign was surrounded by a kindred circle of the Romanov boyars, princes Cherkassky, Sheremetev and Saltykov (relatives of the tsar's mother), seem to give reason to assert that the tsar was a weak and weak-willed ruler.
“At the same time, the main problems of the kingdom, connected with the war or the collection of emergency taxes, were still solved with the help of the Zemsky Councils. With the predominance of the tsar's relatives in the Duma, representatives of other families of the princely aristocracy remained there. And no one in the "Romanov" party could have strengthened enough to replace the tsar. Even with the return of the tsar's father, the future Moscow patriarch Filaret, in 1619, the concept of the primacy of tsarist power did not change, "Kozlyakov explained.
- Patriarch Filaret
- globallookpress.com
According to the expert, historians can talk for a long time about a kind of "dual power of the great sovereigns" - the tsar and the patriarch. But the role of Mikhail Fedorovich and the Boyar Duma in all matters remained decisive. He was supported in this by Patriarch Filaret, after whose return Zemsky Councils ceased to convene. Tsar Mikhail Romanov made compromises in order to take into account the opinion of his father, but this was not based on lack of will and fear, but warm relations between father and son, as evidenced by the surviving correspondence between the tsar and the patriarch.
After the death of Filaret, Mikhail ruled independently for 12 years. And the people remembered him as a righteous and honest sovereign. Mikhail Fedorovich was not a supporter of strict rules. For example, for the leadership of cities, he introduced the institute of governors, but after the petitions of the townspeople, it was not difficult for him to replace them with elected representatives of the zemstvo nobility. The young ruler regulated the collection of taxes. The unit of taxation was the share of land and special enterprises (bakeries, mills, craft shops). For reliable accounting, scribes were drawn up, which held back the arbitrariness of tax collectors.
Under Mikhail Fedorovich, work began on the search for natural resources, iron-smelting, weapons, brick and many other factories were built. It was he who founded the German settlement in Moscow - a place of settlement for foreign engineers and military personnel, who in the era of Peter the Great will play a big role.
“If Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich had been such a weak ruler, there would not have been a transformation in the second part of his reign (after the death of his parents) in the 1630-1640s. I would not have been able to establish myself and, ”emphasizes Kozlyakov.
But the most important thing that Mikhail Fedorovich managed to do was to lead the country out of the deepest crisis into which the Troubles plunged it.
“The heyday of the Muscovy of the times of Alexei Mikhailovich, his son, was laid even during the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich. The war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was over, and a peace treaty was concluded with Sweden. Of course, the Smolensk War of the 1630s was not very successful. Nevertheless, the country recovered after the Troubles and began to confidently move forward, "Pchelov concluded.